Naptime Blog

Since Tristan was born we have not been back to church. I know that’s horrible but I don’t think he could sit through a service and I’m too nervous to leave him with strangers. Plus Rick is back to work on Sunday’s.

So here’s how it went:

Today I dropped Tristan off at the church nursery for the first time. It’s so tempting to always keep him with us since he’s so easy. We even contemplated taking him to the movies with us this weekend (confession: we DID see the new Twilight movie…with Tristan though). But I decided to bite the bullet and venture off without him for the first time at church. It’s amazing how much you UNDERESTIMATE how long it takes to get yourself and a baby all ready in order to go somewhere.  This whole process is definitely something we are learning a lot about as first time parents. So here’s how it went:

1. Arrive to church- already late
2. Arrive to nursery and are clueless about the “check-in” process
3. Holding baby in one arm, filling out paperwork in the other.
4. Holding up the line for people to drop their kids off
5. Realize baby’s entire outfit is soaked in a poopy-pee mixture as I’m handing him to the lady
6. Grab him back from the stranger lady, attempt to change him IN the stroller
7. Can’t find the diapers or backup outfit (”let’s just go home…” I say)
8. Finally find the diapers and backup outfit. **Note: the backup outfit was put in the diaper bag 2 months ago so you can only imagine how well it fit. Poor T.
9. Hand baby back to stranger lady.
10. Clean up the whole hot mess
11. Make it to church with 18 minutes left of service….victory!

Maybe next week I can get a half hour in.

Chrystal

Cherry Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust
• 1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling, chilled

Directions:

• In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
• Gradually add the milk; stir until well blended.
• Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla.
• Pour the filling into the crust and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
• Top with the remaining pie filling before serving.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 3 hours
Ease of Preparation: Easy
Yield: 6-8 servings

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

We LOVE this recipe from Paula Deen! It is ridiculously easy…and it looks like you worked really hard on it when in fact you DID NOT:-)Now that’s my kind of cookin’! All though I’m sad it didn’t include butter. Just kidding. If you watch Paula you know she LOVES butter.
Ya’ll enjoy!

Chrystal

My husband thought taking the twins to see Sesame Street Live was going to be a mistake.  He said they were too young, as they are only fifteen months old.  But I know how although they really do not exactly ‘watch’ television, they do love all the Sesame Street Songs and will look up at the television every time they hear “Elmo’s World” and other Sesame Street jingles.  So I knew the boys would have fun at Sesame Street Live.

I had gotten ten tickets to see the show, and we really had good seats.  My friend Lynda and her son Nicky joined us, and Paul and I had our four kids.  My two cousins came along to help with the bunch.  The boys had their own seats, which I was a little worried about at first, but it really worked out very much to our advantage. 

Louis sat like such a big boy in his chair, watching intently each scene.  He is so into detail, and every time I looked over at him it seemed he was studying each costume, each backdrop, each prop.  Because we sat in the first and second rows, when the characters came around dancing, I was worried that he might not want to be touched, but every time a character passed him and patted his head or gave him a high five, Louis was very much into it.  While he sat, every time a song came on his eyes lit up, and he was bouncing his legs in his seat to the beat!  Paul had gotten French fries at the concession stand, and Louis ate them one by one without missing his mouth OR one second of the show.  I was so pleasantly surprised by how he sat so good during the entire hour and a half.

Early in the show, Anthony went to sit on Lynda’s lap, as she was in the front row.  Although both of the boys are outgoing and friendly, neither one of them really like being separated from Mommy and Daddy for too long, so I didn’t think sitting with Lynda would last very long.  But every time I caught a glimpse of Anthony, he was chomping on some Oreos, drinking his juice, dancing to the beat on her lap.  At one point, Anthony was even standing in front of Lynda bopping with Nicky (who is a year older than the twins, 2 ½) to the tunes of Sesame Street!

Joseph slept through the whole show.  At six weeks, he is still very much a sleepy boy, even through all the noise from the show.  Joseph has three older siblings, and it is NEVER quiet in our house, so he is used to sleeping through tornadoes!  He only woke up right after intermission to drink his bottle, but then went right back into his dreaming. 

Juliana tried to play slick…  she is seven and a half years old and claims to be way past Sesame Street.  Well I caught her dancing along and watching the show as if she was watching Sesame Street for the first time.  Juliana was amazed with the neon colored swimming fish and tried to figure out if they were 3D images or something else, as they were “floating” in mid air.  Because we were so close to the stage, she was able to see the dancers dressed in black holding the fish on stage dancing with them.  Juliana thought that was the coolest thing.  She enjoyed every minute of the show and had a ball. 

During intermission, the kids got Elmo balloons, and when Anthony saw the vendor come out with what seemed like 100 Elmos, he started calling “Mo-Mo! Mo-Mo!”    Both Louis and Anthony were calling for Big Bird, and were fascinated when towards the end of the show he was within inches of them! 

Lynda bought all the kids Sesame Street Live shirts, and when we put them on all the kids and took a photo, they looked adorable!  I must be honest however, since we had all the kids at the show and I kept watching each of them, I really didn’t catch much of the storyline.  I did, however, enjoy seeing the characters myself, and loved the music.  Yes, even as a grown woman I still have a soft spot for Sesame Street!

 Juliana is holding the twins on her lap (Anthony is on the left, Louis is on the right), sitting with Nicky.

Jennifer
Wife to Paul, Mom to Juliana (7), Anthony and Louis (1) and Joseph (Newborn)
www.nevaland.com